Monkey Business

by altruisticinsider

100 Monkeys are no more.

Surprising, right?

Not really. You see, this almost happened once before, during the 100 Cities tour. The boys were exhausted and playing more dates than they should have in a row and tempers got heated. The band were close to breaking point and good old Marty was running around doing all he could.

It’s safe to say that first and foremost before they were 100 Monkeys, the entertainers, G, J, Uncle, Jackson and Jerad were friends. They stuck together through thick and thin, along with Marty and Scott, things were pretty sweet and peachy. But, once the tour finished and new managers came along, things because stricter, more organized. Some said this was good, some said it was too much for the boys. But, they powered through until someone better came along. Forget Creamer. Forget Tim. This was the era of Lani Sarem.

One thing you should know is that 100 Monkeys did NOT want to be managed by a female, never the less, one who acted like she was their best friend. Lani went above and beyond her job, and in the beginning she was useful. She helped establish the fan club again after the band left it to run into the ground. She out put a new person in charge of the street team (more on her later) and pretty much shook the band back on to an even keel. Things looked good.

However, a few months down the line, Marty quit. Strange, huh? He was gone and who stepped up to take his place? Lani. Now, let’s not forget that Marty had been there since the beginning. He’d stuck by those boys through changes in manager, he’d been pushed aside and called a tour manager in favor of Tim who was less than adequate. And it seemed he’d had enough.

So, alongside Lani is Mary Kallhoff, the person who now bullies and alienates fans by blocking them from the street team Facebook page, after calling it ‘her’ page. I’m sorry, sister, but since when did YOU own the street team or the right to the 100 Monkeys name/brand? I’m guessing never. Mary was left with the bulk of the work after Adrienne, the previous street team director fucked up royally. However, power doesn’t give you the right to treat fans like she has. Clearly, it’s gone to her head. Being in Lani’s back pocket does that to you, I suppose.

The discord set in with the band when Lani became too much. As you can all see, Lani controls pretty much all of their shit. Their Facebook, their twitter. NONE of what you saw was Jackson, Jerad, Ben, Ben or Uncle. It was her. The overuse of smiley faces gave that shit away.

Here’s the ugly truth: Jackson did not like Lani. After the personal developments in his life, which created animosity between the band, the end was coming. Jackson quit the band after Lani was not fired. Let’s be truthful, y’all. Jackson is the star of that band. He is the one who pulls the crowds in. Jerad is the personality of the band, he gets the fans going with his caring and friendly attitude. Uncle is Uncle. He’s the Gentleman of Jazz.

So, when you are quick to blame Jackson, take a step back and realize this: 100 Monkeys did not break up because Jackson wanted out. They broke up because of poor management and people who did not know their place. They broke up because lines were blurred and people thought they had more power than they really did.

Now what’s left of the shell of 100 Monkeys? Two less than enthusiastic, burnt out friends and two guys from god knows where wrapped up in a pink, pathetic excuse for a band. So the real casualty is this: those five men lost people that were like family. They lost their friendships, their bonds. And they are NOT to blame.

18 Comments to “Monkey Business”

The part that really bugs me about this post, is where it says “They did NOT want to be managed by a female”. Now, apart from any drama, a comment like that doesn’t fly with me. If it said they didn’t want to be managed by her in particular, fine. But any female? What the fuck does being female have anything to do with it? I don’t know who wrote this, where they got their information, or whether it’s even true. But as a moderate feminist, that comment has changed some of my feelings about the people of the band if it is true.

I don’t really care about their business or anything, just the way it was written offended me. You obviously know more about them than I, I just wanted to put my thoughts out there because it bugged me, is all.

That line was the most sexist comment I’ve read today. Thankfully it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read but it certainly makes me look at the people behind such a grand (read: sexist & idiotic) generalization differently.
I’m actually happy the author wrote it if it’s true which apparently it is lol.

So then why the cease and desist? Why did Jackson become a dick? I know he wasnt happy. We saw him in Denver back in Aug. Before the show, he was walking down the street (by himself) after getting something to eat at an Irish pub. We said hi, he said hi back but it was different than the last time we saw him. Kinda pissy.
Now who has control of the music, the logo and the name?

Several members of the band have been unhappy for some time now. Please remember that what you see is not always what meets the eye. There will always be one person who takes the fall and sadly, in this situation, it is Jackson. There is more to this story that frankly, I’m not allowed to tell. 100 Monkeys is an LLC, so therefore it belongs to all the band. If one protests, 100 Monkeys must be disolved. The logo belongs to Kelly Rathbone and the musical rights belong to the parties that wrote the songs.

No doubt about the unhappiness. There was a drunk idiot in the crowd at that show that shouted to Jackson something about playing Twilight. You could see the entire band dynamic change. I cant imagine what its like to have your craft reduced to a comment about that shitty saga.
I love Jackson, dont get me wrong. He is an unbelievably talented man. I hope he keeps making music.

Actually, it is what is written in the bylaws that dictates if the band was required to dissolve. I have been involved in an LLC and we would have been able to continue if we voted in a new co-director even though one co-director wanted us to dissolve.
Lisa, trademarks and copyrights are available to the public, if you wanted to look them up.

Reblogged this on Living Life The Hard Way and commented:
I don’t know who wrote this and I don’t necessarily agree with everything said, but it’s an honest look at what has been going on. You decide where you stand.

Mel,
I don’t think anyone could have said it better!
I know after seeing them, before Lani, the band was much happier & looser…
Then, this past summer, her rushong people through the meet n greets, you could tell it aggrivated the guys.
I owe you some gummy bears my friend!

Just to clear up one point (minor though it may be), an LLC is not required to dissolve if one member wants it to. The bylaws or operating agreement spell out how the organization can be dissolved.
And no, I blame no one in particular for what has happened, never did. It would not be fair as I do not have all POVs in this situation.

I apologize in advance, this is going to be long and I’ve held it all in because I was too heartbroken to talk about it until now, but considering that 100 Monkeys doesn’t exist anymore I’m not at risk for being “fired,” which was never an issue considering I was never actually on their payroll. I do not want to elaborate on everything I know because I feel that having been on the “inside,” most of what I know is confidential information and if they wanted it to be public, they would have released a personal statement to that effect. The fact is that the band really doesn’t owe anyone an explanation for their business decisions. It astounds me that anyone would demand such information. Anyone that disagrees, I urge you to go into any business and ask to look at their records and demand an explanation about why did this or that. I won’t deny that most of the above is true. But I can’t say that management alone was the downfall of this band. I was around working behind the scenes before Lani was brought on board. At that time, it took an act of congress to get all five band members in sync and on the same page with something. It is no secret that the scheduling of any event has always been chaotic and thus the term “monkey standard time” was invented. Even Marty had a hard time getting answers from all of them in a timely manner. Creamer was a horrible manager. I had issues with him and expressed to him how I felt on occasion. I didn’t know Tim. I don’t think Marty was ever the “general manager,” he was always on tour as the “bananager.” When Lani was brought on as the publicist, Adrienne was still the director of the ST and I was working under her behind the scenes. When she stepped down, I was asked by Lani and Marty to take over. During the last two years of working with this band I’ve had band members confide in me, I’ve had management confide in me and I’ve witnessed events backstage and behind the scenes that are best kept backstage and behind the scenes. I’ve seen these guys at their worst and at their best. I can’t say there wasn’t ever a moment that I questioned myself over decisions management made, but my job was do what management told me to do, not to question it. I never claimed to own the ST, the band name, the logo, etc. I never claimed to be part of management. I was part of the support staff, but not officially on paper. I designed and paid for ST website for use by the band and its management. I moderated the ST Facebook page and the reason it came to banning members was due to issues wherein people continually posted personal information about band members that had nothing to do with the band after being asked several times not to post that sort of thing. I deleted several posts on a daily basis to keep the peace and keep drama from ensuing. If that makes me a tyrant, so be it. Honestly, watching certain fans demand answers for things that aren’t their business, slit each others throats over trivial issues and virtually bitch slapping each other online has made me bitter. There is no way to please everyone. You please this group, then that group is unhappy, vise versa. Trust me when I say all members of the former band know this, and yes certain fans pissed me off. I’m human and thus I’m susceptible to the same emotions that everyone else has. During the Liquid Zoo Tour, I also updated the band’s official FB page, Twitter and was an admin on the band’s website. Official Moderator on Chatter… that was me and another person who will remain nameless. I was updating social media and web content on a daily basis outside the ST. During tour, I organized the meet & greets, chose the daily winners and did administrative tasks that Lani was unable to do on the road. When I was on tour I was the band’s runner and merch person. I did many things that most people didn’t even know I was doing. Nonetheless, the downfall of this band was not completely business. Much of it was personal. What happened? Life happened. There were issues before the Liquid Zoo Tour kicked off. There was animosity over different band members pursuing side projects. I was asked by other band members, NOT management to cease promoting Girlfriend via the band’s ST. I was given the reason that “it was Jerad’s project, not the band’s project.” Even though I didn’t see the issue considering the band scored the film. I wasn’t supposed to promote Mechanical People because it was a side project not the band’s project. Jackson had two careers, the movie star and the rock star. This was accepted by everyone. So it would make sense that because he couldn’t be a fulltime rock star, the other band members should be allowed to pursue other projects as well right? There were issues. Jackson had acting, Jerad had acting and a production company then went on to form Watchbox. The Bens had Mechanical People. Everyone was going in separate directions long before the band officially split. There were personal issues between certain band members and management, I witnessed that. Some of it may have been the way business was handled, but I think a lot of it was personal. However, I think overall, from a business aspect, Lani did an excellent job of bringing the fans closer to the band, allowing them to have more personal contact with the meet & greets and signings at the end of shows. I went to shows before Lani came along and a meet & greet was a rare opportunity. She did a wonderful job getting these guys in the press, arranging interviews and getting them involved with Mtv. But there were also things that I didn’t necessarily agree with. However, I’m not in show business and I don’t know how this industry works so my opinions don’t really count. Lani and I are friends, but at the end of the day, because she was the manager and I did what she told me doesn’t mean I’m in her back pocket. I have my own opinions and I use my own discretion about voicing them to the public. I can probably pinpoint when it started going awry and why, but again, that’s personal and not for me to elaborate on. I will say that during the Southern Swing Tour in December 2010, everything seemed to be peachy. That tour was by far better than the entire Liquid Zoo Tour… in MY opinion. For the continuation of 100 Monkeys, there were some conditions that not all parties agreed to and therefore they went their separate ways. One of those conditions had to do with management and one was that the band would have to take an 18 month break so Jackson could have paternity leave so to speak. Can we blame him? Considering that I’m six months pregnant myself, this does not seem like an unreasonable request to me. He deserves the right as much as any other person to have a family and be happy, putting his career on hold momentarily and then picking it up again when the time is right. I will do the same thing in August when I have my baby, I just won’t do it for 18 months. I could, and it would probably be better for my child and I to bond, but the demands of having two other people in my family and the economy, I simply cannot take that much time off work. While the fans would have probably been in uproar over that decision if they had agreed to it, given hindsight it would have been a better alternative than the band breaking up. So again, this is not an unreasonable request. I mean they had just spent the last six months on a world tour. They were tired and personally I think they all could have used the break and time to themselves. Jerad could have made use of the break to work on other projects. The Bens could have used the time to work on Mechanical People. Instead, the Bens decided that they did not want to put things on hold. They wanted to move on and continue making music and doing shows for a fanbase that loved 100 Monkeys that were demanding more, more more! Can we blame the Bens for wanting to move forward? Considering that music is their only project and source of income, and they wanted to please their fans, no we can’t. This is where it got really ugly and the legal dispute began over the band’s name, the logo, etc. So while people are going to continue to sit back and point fingers on who is to blame, the fact is that there is really no one person to blame and everything comes to an end at some point… bands, relationships, friendships, even life. I apologize if this has offended anyone. I’m surprised that there is still even an uproar over this issue when nearly a month has past. The dust has settled and all former band members are trying to pick up the pieces and move on in their own different directions. No sides should be taken and the fandom should not be split. You have two former members with two new members making new music… you have three former members getting together to do jam sessions in the public welcoming all who want to come out. Just sit back and enjoy the music. I can’t say that 100 Monkeys is gone forever and I can’t say that they will ever be again. I can say that time heals and perhaps given time, friendships can mend. As fans, we need to let time heal the wounds.